Abstracts with Names

Arne Anderdal and Jo Asgeir Lie RUNDDANS MUSIC ON HARDANGER FIDDLE The Hardanger fiddle is a string instrument with four top strings and four or five sympathetic strings. The instrument emerged during the 1600s, and was used to play dance music and ceremonial music in duple and triple meter; this music was transferred from other instruments. This music and dance are still very widespread. From the late 1700s to the end of the 1800s, dances and music which were termed runddans came to Norway from Europe and became established as an important part of the popular repertoire in the country. There are many different versions of these dances, but the main types are vals, polka, masurka, and reinlender. Runddans music was played on fiddle and Hardanger fiddle, as well as on instruments such as diatonic and chromatic button accordion. When Norway became an independent state in 1905, the country was to be constructed using “old”, authentic Norwegian culture, and in this context runddans music was regarded as too modern to be used as a building block. The oldest forms of music were given highest status, even though Hardanger fiddlers also played runddans music. In recent times, there has been a conviction that almost no runddans music existed in several of the areas where Hardanger fiddle has been used. But if one investigates historical records and archives, a great deal of runddans music that has a Hardanger fiddle style can be found. This confirms that a great variety of music was played on Hardanger fiddle. What was the effect of the ideological use of folk music on the music world in Norway during the period leading up to 1940?

Pat Ballantyne SCOTTISH DANCING MASTERS: PUTTING A KILT ON IT This paper considers the role of Scottish dancing masters in the adoption of new dances in nineteenth- and early twentieth century Scotland. During the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Scottish dancing masters adopted and adapted an ever increasing number of new dances. This phenomenon was fuelled by commercial drivers, the need to establish authority and competition with other dancing masters. Travelling dancing masters had to be resourceful if they were to attract new and returning pupils. As the nineteenth century progressed, the number of these itinerant dancing-masters increased. In Aberdeen, both local and itinerant dancing masters competed for pupils. One popular method used to attract new pupils was for teachers to introduce the latest, most fashionable ballroom dances, often adapting them to suit local tastes. Couple dances, for example, became increasingly popular with the dancing population. My research shows the clear emergence of this phenomenon in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This is distinct from earlier days at the beginning of the nineteenth century and commentators such as Francis Peacock, who was more concerned with documenting the dances of the time. Later dancing masters appear to have become intent on maintaining a degree of superiority over their peers and building up their own business practice. I will support this paper with manuscript and archive sources. There are some fascinating examples of dancing masters adopting and adapting dances to suit social mores – literally ‘putting a kilt’ on them.

Leah O’Brien Bernini VERSATILITY, PORTABILITY, GRIT, AND GRACE: THE ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL POWER OF THE FIDDLE IN COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE Natalie MacMaster. Martin Hayes. Eileen Ivers. Kevin Burke. Liz Carroll. John Carty. Zoe Conway. Fiddle is arguably the only solo instrument to routinely headline on the Celtic commercial touring circuit. What is it about this instrument that captures the attention, imagination, and disposable income of audiences worldwide? Is it its versatility, its capacity for virtuosity, its grit and grace? It is its ability to oscillate easily between melody and harmony, between autonomy, leadership, and cooperation, or across diverse genres? Could it be its global familiarity, popularity, and the availability of instruments and teachers? Or is it its inherent beauty, the captivating aesthetic of the human-instrument synergic dance? Does its physical portability play a role, or is more credit due to the personality and characteristics of those with discipline to master this instrument and pursue a career in performance? This paper explores fiddle as indisputably the most popular – and arguably the most economically viable – solo instrument in commercialised North Atlantic traditions. These findings derive from a five-year study investigating the entangled and mutually constitutive relationship between western commercial music and neoliberal capitalism. This study engages over eighty prominent professionals in commercialised Celtic music production and analyses participants’ strategies, experiences and actions as they navigate the delicate ‘art-commerce-social triad’ (Banks 2007). Examining how artists and industry personnel experience and interact with the neoliberal capitalist cultural formation, through their involvement in entertainment industry, helps reveal how professional artists experience the intersection of commerce and art, that is, the commodification of their musical experience.

Christen J. Blanton PATHWAYS TO LEARNING: THE MUSICAL JOURNEYS OF FIVE ADULT FIDDLE PLAYERS The learning of musical styles and techniques can occur in many different contexts. From the school music program to the weekly pub jam, whether learning from a recording or reading from printed notation, fiddle players have myriad options for engaging in learning opportunities. Learning music is a journey, a path that can twist and turn in many different directions (Lamont, 2011). In a contemporary world, it can be expected that the journey of learning to play the fiddle, regardless of style, be informed by a wealth of diverse musical experiences. What musical experiences contribute to the decision to learn to play fiddle? What do fiddlers value in varied music learning contexts? The purpose of this study is to examine the musical journeys of five fiddle players. Although these fiddlers have different backgrounds and experiences with music making, they all chose to attend Fiddle Week at The Swannanoa Gathering in Asheville, North Carolina to enhance their skills. Fiddle Week offers a range of classes in many different styles, and as such, participants were enrolled in classes related to old-time, bluegrass, Métis, swing, and Celtic fiddle traditions. `It is my hope that by examining the diverse musical journeys of these five fiddlers, the motivations for, and rewards of learning fiddling traditions may be better understood. In addition, teachers of fiddle traditions may benefit from understanding how their students’ musical learning experiences in different contexts contribute to the enjoyment of various fiddle styles.

Hallie Blejewski WHAT INSTRUMENTS WANT: FIDDLING IN THE BLACK ATLANTIC West African one-stringed bowed instruments like the gondze may not conform to commonly held notions of "the fiddle" (i.e. the violin as used in particular folk contexts). Yet the musical activities in which these instruments are key actors are unmistakably fiddling, and in this paper, I explore why. Eliot Bates advocates for serious study of "the social life of musical instruments." Attributing agency to inanimate objects such as musical instruments creates a space in which the negotiations between the desires of instruments and those of their performers can be foregrounded. How do instruments forge their own identities, asserting themselves as fiddles, and how do the intentions of musicians act upon, against, or in concert with the nonhuman (un)intentionality of sound production? Ethnomusicological studies of African musical traditions disproportionately focus on instruments such as the mbira, xylophone, and many types of drum, which skews the perception of African musical diversity. As scholars like Kofi Agawu are increasingly pushing to reshape the ways in which African musics are represented in academic discourse, African fiddling traditions have entered a space once (and, to an extent, still) dominated Western ideas of "African rhythm.” Jacqueline DjeDje argues that the concept of "virtuosity" and the relationship between the fiddler and dancers are crucial characteristics of West African fiddling. By situating fiddling inside the framework of Paul Gilroy's Black Atlantic, I use examples of African and European fiddle music to investigate the deceptively simple question, "What are fiddles, and what do they want?"

Jorn Borggreen BACK TO THE KITCHEN RACKET AND THE DANCE HALL Cape Breton island, Nova Scotia is fortunate to have a form of genuine folk dance which is still alive to the present day. It is a form of square dance, performed by four couples, which can be experienced around the island, especially during the summer. This form of quadrille dance is not very old – it was introduced in the beginning of the last century – but it carries the characters of folk dance, i.e. dances performed at social functions by the local population with little or no professional training, to traditionally based music. In 1998 when I first visited Cape Breton this dance form was mostly – but not only – kept alive at a few busy dance halls and the crowd was often dominated by tourists. Moreover, descriptions of the dances were not available in any form, except in the heads of the former -- now old -- prompters. During several visits to CB I collected material by interviewing the prompters and by video-recording sets. The result is a complete and comprehensive collection of dances from 13 locations around the island. Besides, in several communities local groups of enthusiasts have dug up and thus saved “their own” dance from oblivion. A comparison with the revival of the set dancing in Ireland is appropriate and the perspective being that the local dances will be revived and again be, not only an attraction for many more tourists, but also part of a popular, cultural adhesion across Cape Breton.

Elaine Bradtke WHERE DID YOU GET THAT TUNE? : THE ORIGINS AND EVOLUTIONS OF ENGLISH FIDDLE MUSIC IN THE JAMES MADISON CARPENTER COLLECTION In 1899, Cecil Sharp, a prolific collector of folk songs, ‘discovered’ the traditional instrumental dance music of England. He noted down a few morris tunes, and later went back to collect more music and the associated dances. He eventually published this material in a series of books that formed the basis of a revival. In the spring of 1933, James Madison Carpenter visited three of Sharp’s informants - fiddlers Sam Bennett, John Robbins, and William Wells, and recorded their playing onto wax cylinders. Carpenter’s recordings were more extensive than Sharp’s notated tunes, both in length and number, but unlike Sharp, he never published them. The history of the arguably quintessential English repertoire of these three morris dance musicians has been the focus of my recent research. Some of the melodies have had a long and varied existence, ranging from nursery rhymes and singing games to political songs, ballad operas, and even formal compositions, and extending geographically throughout the British Isles and beyond. This paper will discuss the background and dissemination of several of these tunes. Topics will include printed and manuscript sources, their subsequent use by composers, performers, and publishers, and the influence collectors themselves had in the process of transmission.

Natalie Brown TRADITIONAL MUSIC EDUCATION TODAY: TEACHING FIDDLE IN NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND My paper will update research that I conducted in Scotland in 2013. The research deals with the current status of traditional music education in Scotland, mainly the North-East region. I conducted extensive interviews with fourteen musicians, most of who are violin or fiddle instructors as well as local stakeholders in traditional music education. The interviews explore the music backgrounds of the contributors and the music history of the region in relation to the notion of the ‘carrying stream’, in which tradition is passed on but also remade from generation to generation. Issues such as the resistance to traditional music in schools; views on traditional music exams and competitions; availability of traditional music teaching resources; and community involvement are addressed. I will also examine contrasting approaches to teaching traditional music, such as the difference between informal and formal settings, and whether to teach by ear or notation. An additional consideration is the relation between traditional music and national identity in Scotland. My original interviews were conducted before the expiration of the first syllabus for traditional music exams and the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014, so I will be exploring music educators’ responses to the revised syllabus and to the “no” vote. My paper will draw on further research as I continue to explore the teaching of traditional music and the issues associated with competitions, assessments and globalisation of tradition.

James Dalton THE SALEM HORNPIPE: THE FIDDLE TUNE, THE IRISH BANDMASTER, AND THE WINTER ISLAND MUSTER The border between fiddle repertoire and military band music in antebellum U.S. was surprisingly porous. Tunes that we usually associate with the fiddle frequently appear in band-part books because, in addition to their martial-music duties, regimental bands also performed for concerts and social occasions. Tunes also migrated in the opposite direction. One such piece is the "Salem Hornpipe" which appeared in Cole’s as well as in a number of 19th century tune books. It began life as part of a quickstep march by Patrick S. Gilmore, one of the most famous of all 19th century U. S. musicians. An Irish immigrant, Gilmore was best known as a military band leader and as an organizer of massive musical events. He also composed popular songs. A multi-instrumentalist, Gilmore performed, for a while, as a member of a minstrel show group. Examining the origins of the Salem Hornpipe, one discovers interesting details of antebellum military history, the Boston music publishing industry, and connections between the repertoires of band and fiddle. Successive published versions of the tune show a general “smoothing out” of rhythmic features, leading to the widely distributed Ryan’s/Cole’s version which is the main source of the various internet versions of the tune.

Kate Dunlay THE MANUSCRIPTS OF FIDDLER JAMES BARRY, PICTOU, NOVA SCOTIA Fiddler James Burns Barry (1819-1906) of Six Mile Brook, Pictou County, Nova Scotia compiled several manuscripts of tunes, and he also kept a diary from 1849 until his death. A great many of Barry's tunes were most likely copied from published books, but some were collected from other fiddlers, and some are Barry's own compositions. Barry arranged some of the tunes and occasionally wrote notes about how they should be performed. Barry's manuscripts contain well over 2000 tunes, so he may have written out tunes he liked, collecting many of them for later consideration rather than learning every one. This paper explores what Barry's manuscripts reveal about his sources, his musical identity, his playing style and aesthetics, and the contexts in which he shared music with others. Although Barry may not have been typical of Nova-Scotian fiddlers in the nineteenth century, his manuscripts provide insight as to the role of musical literacy in the dissemination of repertoire. By examining the tunes in Barry's manuscripts, searching for the titles online and in various indexes, and comparing Barry's transcriptions to printed versions, it is possible to determine some of the published sources that Barry probably accessed. Targeting the rarer tunes in his collection facilitates this process; for the more common ones, sometimes only the provenance can be discovered. Many of the tunes reflect Barry's Scottish heritage but American and various European influences on his collection are evident. Jean Duval THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF FIDDLER ISIDORE SOUCY, AN ICON OF QUEBECOIS TRADITIONAL MUSIC IN THE 20TH CENTURY Isidore Soucy (1899-1963) was the fiddler who recorded the most in Quebec’s history, with 400 titles over the span of nearly forty years. Despite this considerable production, little has been written about Isidore’s style and repertoire, and on the influence he had in defining an archetypal Québécois fiddling style. This paper will present an overview of Isidore’s career as a fiddler along with an analysis of his repertoire and his fiddling style contrasted with other famous fiddlers of his era such as Joseph Allard. Soucy’s style, with abundant foot-tapping and double-stops, can be qualified of “rustic” in comparison with the smooth contest/listening style of Allard. It nevertheless appealed to many people because it reminded them of their rural background at a time when urbanization was occurring rapidly among French Canadians. A major part of his repertoire was made up of polka and single reel type of tunes, well adapted to quadrille dancing. Perhaps the most noticeable trait of Isidore’s style however, is the frequent transformation of tunes into asymmetrical versions of his own, whether they are French Canadian standards, or originate from American or Celto-britannic sources. After the war, the lasting commercial success of “La Famille Soucy” can be attributed to a combination of songs and fiddle tunes in a multi-piece band, not unlike what was happening in the rest of Canada with Don Messer and his Islanders. Nowadays, many fiddlers in Quebec still tap into Isidore’s vast repertoire of tunes but very few try to imitate his unique fiddling style.

Laura Ellstad KAPPLEIKS AND CONCERT COMPANIES: NORWEGIAN FOLK FIDDLE IN NORTH AMERICAN CONTEXTS, 1900-1960 This paper will investigate performance practices in the musical activities of Norwegian-American fiddlers Eilev Smedal (1889-1938) and Daniel Aakhus (1881- 1969). These fiddlers responded to new cultural contexts in North America by finding diverse ways to adapt their performance practices. While Smedal helped establish venues for performance, competition, and the informal exchange of traditional bygdedans tunes, Aakhus played an influential role in the rise of a new, creolized Norwegian-American “old-time” music, and was also an active itinerant concert musician. Performances of bygdedans music in the context of competitions (“kappleiks”) arranged by a national organization for Hardanger fiddlers, Hardanger Violinist Forbundet af Amerika, are a central focus in this paper. Performance practices associated with Aakhus’s touring concert program, as well as Norwegian-American old-time music in Aakhus’s repertoire, are also examined. Finally, I will study these performance practices from a contemporary performer’s perspective, using my position as a performer of traditional Hardanger fiddle music to investigate, recreate, and renew bygdedans and old-time tunes from from Smedal’s and Aakhus’s repertoires. In the context of studies of Norwegian traditional music in North America, my research makes an important contribution to previous scholarship in that it focuses on connections and contrasts between bygdedans and old-time traditions. In addition, actions and reflections made from the perspective of artistic research situate my findings in a modern context, making this research relevant for other contemporary traditional musicians.

Tiber Falzett “CHA MHÒR NACH SAOILEA’ TU GU ROBH THU GA ITHE! […] BHA E DÌREACH MAR A THUIRT MI—AM BLAS.” (‘IT WAS AS IF YOU’D THINK YOU WERE EATING IT! […] IT WAS JUST AS I SAID—THE FLAVOUR.’): MUSIC, METAPHOR AND GAELIC TASTE Building upon a network of sensory conceptualisations concerning Scottish Gaelic aural performance culture, this paper focuses on the metaphorical use of language related to food, nourishment and taste in discourse on communal aesthetic attitudes toward music among first-language Scottish Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton Island. By way of sustained personal fieldwork over the past decade, the symbolic and frequently metaphorical uses of certain lexemes related to the gustatory have gradually revealed themselves as central concepts related to both the expression of cultural identity through language and music alongside the attainment of shared emotional wellbeing. Taking note of Lakoff and Johnson’s English conceptual metaphors IDEAS ARE FOOD (2003: 46–7) and PERSONAL PREFERENCE IS TASTE (1999: 238), attention will be given to the metaphoric implication that MUSIC AND SPEECH ARE FOOD and ACCURATE EXPRESSION OF MUSIC AND LANGUAGE IS TASTE(D) among Scottish Gaelic speakers on Cape Breton Island. By comparing this current discourse on music synchronically and diachronically to accounts of blas in the wider Gaelic world explicit similarities can be drawn from which the source domain of TASTE upholds target domains of LINGUISTIC ACCURACY, MUSICAL ORNAMENTATION and HUMAN EMOTION, wherein the emotional pleasure and enjoyment of listening to music that meets the aesthetic standards of the community is conceived in comparable terms to the satisfaction of a good meal shared among friends.

Alfonso Franco Vazquez THE GALICIAN FIDDLE SCENE: THE FRUIT OF A NORTH AMERICAN CROSSING-OVER Galicia, located on the westernmost tip of Europe, retained its fiddle tradition from the Middle Ages until the 70s, thanks to blind players. After four decades of dormancy, in the last five years the fiddle has re-emerged in southern Galicia, where hundreds of violinists of all ages participate in workshops, master classes and fiddle camps. Sessions, where fiddlers were scarcely spotted, now swarm with them. In three years, Galicia has been visited by many of the best fiddlers in the world: D.Anger, A.Fraser, H.Cassel, M.Block, N.& B.Haas, etc. In California, Oregon and Boston Galician fiddle camps and workshops are organized and, in just three years, the Galician San Simon Fiddle Camp has positioned itself as a landmark in fiddle camps for children worldwide. In my abstract I will explain the key factors that have led to a new generation of fiddlers growing in a land where this centuries-old tradition was close to extinction".

Nic Gareiss, see Mary Ann Kennedy, TRANS-LINGUISTIC ANATOMIC TRANS-LOCATION IN PUIRT A BEUL AND PERCUSSIVE DANCE

David Garner TEMPO, IDENTITY, AND DRIVE IN CAPE BRETON JIGS Cape Breton fiddle performance is about the small things. To an untrained listener the music can seem overly repetitive and boring. Knowing how to listen to Cape Breton fiddling means knowing to listen for the subtle choices the fiddler makes in left hand ornamentation, bowing techniques, tune choice, when interacting with accompanying instruments, and many more. Tempo is one important aspect of performance that is not frequently discussed. In a previous article, currently under review, I carefully analyze the tempo in twelve recordings of March-Strathspey-Reel tracks, illustrating how fiddlers manipulate tempo to transition between tune types and when to increase the energy or “drive” in a tune. In this paper I analyze approximately 30 jig tracks by measuring the tempo throughout the track, noting if there are any changes in the tempo. By close examination of 30 tracks, I will be able to answer questions about the use of tempo in Jigs. What is the specific tempo range for Cape Breton jigs? Do fiddlers stay at the same tempo for the entire set of jigs or are there subtle changes in tempo that occur? Do specific fiddlers tend to play jigs always in the same tempo? Do jig tempos change depending on their context (whether in the concert hall, dance hall, or recording studio)? By answering these questions we can have a better understanding of what makes individual fiddlers unique and more broadly, why Cape Breton fiddling is a unique and engaging performance tradition.

Ronnie Gibson NATIONAL AND REGIONAL TRADITIONS OF SCOTTISH FIDDLE PERFORMANCE Among the most recognisable regional Scottish fiddle styles are those of the North- East, West coast, Shetland, and (it can be argued) Cape Breton. Each possesses its own distinctive sound, which is the product of a unique historical background and socio- cultural context, yet shares with the others a common repertoire of tunes. At the same time, it can remain helpful to conceive of a single tradition of Scottish fiddle performance, for instance, in the marketing of performers, in the study of the music before the age of audio recording, and when considering the relationships between regional styles. This paper will critique two models of scholarship that are commonly adopted in research on Scottish fiddle music: the regional model utilised in ethnographic studies of individual, geographically defined traditions, and the national model that informs historical surveys of the topic on a larger scale. While, in theory, the models are not oppositional, the paucity of projects combining the perspectives afforded by each has obscured the roots of present-day practices and misrepresented the music historically. An overview of each model will be given, with their strengths and weaknesses evaluated, before the challenges of a more all-encompassing perspective are discussed.

Monique Giroux NEGOTIATING OLD AND NEW: THE RED RIVER JIG AS REVIVAL AND RESURGENCE Revivals, according to Livingston, are “social movements which strive to ‘restore’ a musical system that is believed to be disappearing or completely relegated to the past for the benefit of contemporary society” (1999: 66). Given that the Red River Metis have faced attempts at physical and cultural eradication since the Resistances of 1870 and 1885, it is no surprise that the many Metis people have, in recent years, sought to revive their cultural practices for the benefit of the contemporary Metis nation. Yet as Nahachewsky notes, a tradition might experience a revival in some settings, while simultaneously existing outside of the framework of revival in other settings (2001: 20). Borrowing a concept presented by Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar Leanne Simpson (2011), renewed cultural vitality that does not fit the parameters set out in Livingston might, in some cases, be better understood as resurgence. This paper explores these two concepts using the Red River Jig, a popular Metis fiddle tune and dance. Drawing on historical evidence and interviews with dancers and fiddlers, I argue that the Red River Jig is a tradition that is currently practiced as both revival and resurgence, and that these two distinct approaches serve complementary purposes. In doing so, this paper examines the various ways that the Red River Jig is used as a site of negotiation between the past (the old tradition) and the contemporary needs of the Metis nation (the new tradition).

Gregory Hansen THE "ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL" AND CHUBBY WISE’S SHIFT INTO BLUEGRASS FIDDLING Louie Attebery coined the term "fiddlelore" to describe the folklore that is associated with fiddling. He explains that fiddlelore constitutes a rich tradition of beliefs, rituals, and stories associated with the instrument. It's common for fiddlers to draw from this vast body of knowledge and expressive culture in crafting their performances, especially as they use fiddlelore in their stage patter. One of the more intriguing uses of fiddlelore as stage patter and as a resource for crafting a musical persona is evident in the stories about the composition of the "Orange Blossom Special." The tune was written by Ervin and Gordon Rouse, but the pioneering bluegrass fiddler, Robert “Chubby” Wise claimed to have also had a hand in writing the tune. In his books Orange Blossom Boys and Fiddler's Curse, researcher Randy Noles critiques central elements of the story that Wise co-wrote the tune. Nevertheless, Noles also demonstrates how Wise played an important part in popularizing the tune. This paper extends Noles' discussion by demonstrating how the story is complicit with wider patterns of culture that are part of history of fiddling in the United States. Wise's story reflects ways that the performance contexts for bluegrass fiddling are distinct from the earlier old-time string band tradition. Although not literally true, Wise’s account of the tune’s origin reveals symbolic truths about the shift from fiddling into more mass mediated and commercialized contexts of music making in the mid 20th century.

Ian Hayes NEGOTIATING SPACE AND PLACE: THE CAPE BRETON FIDDLING TRADITION AND THE TOURISM INDUSTRY Well-known to tourists and musicians alike, the fiddling traditions of Cape Breton Island have become so entrenched in the region’s culture that they are virtually inseparable from many aspects of life in the area. Summer tourism creates a high demand for traditional music, attracting spectators and musicians alike. In many cases, tourism creates a complex dynamic between locals and tourists; Cape Breton is no exception to this. Tourists are welcomed, but not without some reservation. They are essential to the economy and traditional music scene, but also create competition for local space (like at a pub or dance hall) where year-round residents are forced to share their community with seasonal visitors. This paper will explore the role Cape Breton fiddlers play in the region’s tourism. Cape Breton fiddling functions both as a marketing tool, and a cultural production consumed by locals and tourists. Musicians serve as a symbol of the region, and are used extensively in print and television advertisements. As a region that has historically been romanticized for touristic purposes, the ways in which the region is represented as a whole may not necessarily be consistent with the views of local musicians. This places traditional musicians at an intersection between tourists and provincial government offices, and the local music community. Musicians must appeal to tourists, satisfy government expectations, yet represent themselves and the tradition in a way that meets their own needs. Power, economics, and representation are negotiated and informed by notions of art and authenticity.

Laura Houle CARRYING ON THE TRADITION: ANALYSIS OF THE PERFORMANCE PRACTICE EVOLUTION WITHIN TEXAS CONTEST-STYLE FIDDLING Texas contest style fiddling remains a distinct sub-genre within American fiddling. It is performed in a competitive context that involves the direct use of ornamented and varied folk melodies. As the contest tradition evolved in style of performance and eventual locations outside of Texas, the term likewise evolved to describe a virtuosic and indigenous type of fiddling. In order to trace stylistic evolution, I analyze three successive generations of contest fiddle performers by focusing on recordings and fiddle tunes that best represent the performance practice. These individuals are Eck Robertson (November 1887- February 1975), Benny Thomasson (April 1909- January 1984), and Mark O’Connor (August 1961). Basing comparative analysis on transcriptions of each player’s recording, the analysis focuses upon bowing styles, fiddle techniques, and improvisation to demonstrate a nuanced picture of stylistic modifications made by the performer. Combining historical backgrounds and memory narratives, this analysis shapes the history of the Texas contest fiddle tradition, and contributes to the idioms continued relevancy. Situating the fiddlers’ performance innovations within the expectations of the fiddle tradition, it is clear these players carry on the tradition of fiddling while nevertheless creating individualistic renditions of canonic fiddle tunes.

Sherry Johnson THE MEDIATION OF TRANSMISSION IN OTTAWA VALLEY STEP DANCING Ottawa Valley step dancing originated in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the lumber camps of the Ottawa Valley (Canada) where lumberjacks of Irish, Scottish, English, French-Canadian, and Aboriginal heritages shared their own particular styles of solo percussive dance. For most of its history, it has been transmitted informally and corporally; new dancers learned by watching great dancers and imitating them. Even after weekly formal lessons became available in the 1960s, the primary method of transmission remained copying the body movements of the teacher until they became part of one’s own body vocabulary. Inscriptive devices, namely the video camera, did not come into widespread use within the community until the mid-1980s. Now you can buy series of video-taped lessons from several different teachers, as well as take skyped lessons from thousands of miles away. While these mediating tools have not replaced face-to-face lessons as the most common means of transmission, dancers can record their new steps, negating the need to have incorporated the movement in the presence of their teacher. In this paper, I examine how mass media affects the transmission, and thus development, of Ottawa Valley step dancing today. How do dancers’ basic skills change when bodies are replaced by television and computer screens? Through interviews with members of the dance community, I will explore how what Paul Connerton (1989) calls “inscription devices” have been used by over three generations of Ottawa Valley step dancers, and their mediating influences, now firmly in place in the early twenty- first century.

Mary Ann Kennedy, Nic Gareiss TRANS-LINGUISTIC ANATOMIC TRANS-LOCATION IN PUIRT A BEUL AND PERCUSSIVE DANCE In 2013, Gaelic singer and musician-in-residence Mary Ann Kennedy invited dancer Nic Gareiss to the campus of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig for a week of conversation, development, and conceptualization around the practices of Gaelic language puirt a beul and percussive step dance. The college, a site known for its history of reuniting Scottish music and step dance, proved a fertile and provocative location for re-imagination the intersections of these (oft divergent) traditional arts practices. Inspirited by the discoveries of those fecund five days, this paper, co-written by a Scottish Gaelic-speaking singer, and an American non-Gaelicspeaking dancer, presents our research in the creation of new work with these mediums. We hope to enact, as happy dissidents, a departure from conventions of music/dance co-option, inhabiting the role of individuals seeking to converse, rather than one performer serving the other. The objective, a two-way traffic of transACTION, re-sculpts assumptions of both step dance and puirt a beul resting on the ostensive impermeability of both forms. In performance, this may facilitate an expansion of foci both visually and sonically, allowing a simultaneous 'starring' role by dint of the dynamic of each praxis and sympathetic engagement. Herein, we draw upon both critical evaluations of performances by the Campbells of Greepe, Kennedy, and Gareiss, as well as recent scholarship by Melin and Sparling, to catechize conventions of linguistic ambivalence around aesthetic intelligibility in contemporary models of Scottish mouth music and dance. This may illuminate the trans-Atlantic transactions that inform and undergird fiddling, even in the absence of fiddles themselves.

Jo Asgeir Lie see Arne Anderdal RUNDDANS MUSIC ON HARDANGER FIDDLE

Dina Maccabee FOLK OR ANTI-FOLK? TRANSMITTING OLD-TIME REPERTOIRE ON YOUTUBE Recent cyber-ethnographic scholarship has addressed nodes of online traditional music repertoire exchange such as the Banjo Hangout (Waldron, 2012) and the Online Academy of Irish Music (Kenny, 2013); examining these online “spaces” as sites for the emergence of new communities that reproduce aspects of users’ offline musical lives. In this paper I complement these accounts with an inquiry into what has become both the most immediate and most chaotic source: YouTube. I propose that while using “new” YouTube technology to transmit “old” music may seem dissonant, aspects of old-time practice are actually reinforced by YouTube norms, in the following ways: 1. Tunes structured as short repeated phrases are congruent with YouTube’s short attention span; 2. Interest in tune lineage and variation is engaged via algorithmic links to “related” content; and 3. Constituting an imagined audience through durable, asynchronous video presentation allows both viewers and performers to imagine themselves in a communal activity, rather than the one-to-many broadcast model of conventional media (Miller, 2012; Warner, 2002). On the other hand, YouTube privileges performance values that run counter to the anti-performance aesthetic of much old-time practice, expressed in details like styles of dress and linguistic framing. These observations prompt the question: Does transmission of old-time repertoire via YouTube subvert or conform to dominant uses of YouTube? I explore of this question by documenting a search for single old-time tune, encountered in many variations while navigating YouTube’s vaults. Keeping the tune as a constant allows for a close reading of variations in style and presentation, highlighting YouTubers’ understandings of their own values and objectives.

Pauleena MacDougall MAINE AS A BORDERLAND OF MUSICAL TRADITIONS Maine lies in a region surrounded by Maritime Provinces, Quebec and the sea and therefore shares much culture within this region. Throughout its history Maine experienced many waves of immigration from France, England, Scotland, Ireland and other countries, and with the immigrants came the music and dance traditions. Although the English culture dominated and repressed much of the language, many of the songs, song making traditions and tunes survived in families and were sung or played at home and in the lumber camps and other work places. Songs and tunes were collected by folklorists and others throughout most of the twentieth century, and many of the songs and tunes have been preserved or published. The Maine Folklife Center’s Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History holds many of these songs and tunes reflecting a wide variety of traditions including many of the Irish and Scottish ballads and tunes shared with the Maritimes. My paper will discuss some of Maine’s ballads and songs, song making, and fiddle tunes and will review the origins and movement of the traditions as well as the importance of the connections between Maine and the Maritime Provinces in the preservation of traditional music. I will also review some of the key tradition bearing families who preserved these traditions.

Jane MacMorran EXAMINING MUSICAL LEGACIES: AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH AND CASE STUDY This presentation offers an innovative approach for the examination of musical legacies and practices, both within traditional Scottish fiddling and beyond. By adopting a broadened definition of text and performance, theories previously reserved for literature may be applied to non-literary texts such as fiddle tunes. This approach illustrates the polyphonic dialogic qualities of performance; the instability of constructed meaning; the fluidity of interpretation; and the free incorporation of socio-ideological languages in musical “text” - leading us to consider simple fiddle tunes as complex social constructions. Further, when we consider a performance in the context of the “carrying stream” of musical ideas, styles, social meaning, renewal, interaction, and performance practice, we are able to develop an expanded musicological worldview that strengthens our ability to examine musical legacies and their influence. The presentation will illustrate the value and usefulness of this investigative approach by using a case study of Scottish fiddler Ron Gonnella. The examination will also consider Gonnella’s personal interaction with musicians and audiences in Canada, the United States, and Scotland; his role in setting global standards for Scottish fiddling; and the dialogic process by which Gonnella endows fiddle tunes with a depth of historical and social significance they lack in everyday discourse. Thus, this innovative investigative approach will highlight and examine the NAFCO themes of ‘adoption and appropriation’, ‘migration’, and ‘interaction’ as they apply to the legacy of Ron Gonnella; and will serve as an possible example for further musicological research.

Aaron McGregor NATIONAL MUSICAL STYLE IN 18TH-CENTURY SCOTLAND: PERFORMANCE PRACTICE, TRADITION, AND INTERPLAY IN WILLIAM MCGIBBON’S SCOTS TUNES, AND EMBELLISHMENTS OF CORELLI SONATAS. In the 18th century, a distinct Scottish fiddle style emerged through the interaction of music from different genres and national styles. However, there has been a tendency to analyse this music according to a perceived stylistic spectrum between ‘folk’ and ‘art’ music; concepts that only emerged in the 19th century. In the early 1700s, music was almost exclusively categorised by function, and national origin became increasingly important through the 18th century. This paper will look at how musicians conceptualised style and genre in the mid-18th century, and how this was reflected in performance. It will focus on the work of Scottish violinist- composer William McGibbon (c.1696-1756), whose oeuvre crosses Scottish and Italian styles arguably more than any other 18th-century musician. McGibbon’s three Scots Tunes collections and his embellishments of Corelli’s Op. 5 sonatas are a substantial reflection of his own performance practice across different national styles. This study will highlight McGibbon’s treatment of (and interplay between) Scottish and Italian music by analysing his differing ornamentation and variation technique, issues of accompaniment and the concept of flexibility in performance. By investigating the relationship of McGibbon’s collections with other sources, as well as the later influence and perception of his work, this study will highlight his place within an emerging Scottish fiddle music tradition.

David McGuinness BASS FIDDLING: THE ROLE OF THE CELLO IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF SCOTTISH FIDDLE MUSIC NAFCo 2015 coincides with the completion of a three-year AHRC-funded project in which three institutions, the Universities of Glasgow and Cambridge, and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, have been investigating ‘Bass culture in Scottish musical traditions’. They has been challenging the received view that the most ‘traditional’ materials in Scottish repertoire are the tunes and songs at the top of the musical texture, by exploring historical traditions of accompaniment practices and the formal and harmonic structures underpinning them. The relationship between a tune and its ‘accompaniment’ was certainly not always the way it is now, and the research team’s focus with fiddle music has been the study of bass fiddle (cello) and other accompaniment styles found in over 300 printed sources from 1750-1850. A selection of these sources will be digitised and made available online with comprehensive searchable metadata, as the first stage in the development of a web resource for historical Scottish music at www.hms.scot .

This paper will present an overview of the team’s findings, in particular how music and accompaniments were adapted to changing musical tastes and the developing market for printed music. Even authoritative figures such as Niel Gow allowed their music to be altered for commercial advantage, and these modified versions have permeated traditions since. This study provides important lessons in how traditions change and are perceived, and also illustrates the value of adapting techniques from historical musicology for the study of traditional music.

Mats Melin THE ADAPTATION OF CAPE BRETON STEP DANCING IN SCOTLAND Observations on aspects of the Cape Breton step dancing repertoire which have been adopted, modified and intermixed with other dance forms in Scotland since 1992. This paper looks at what movement motifs and what aesthetic-style characteristics (and, by extension, what stylistic hallmarks) in the music of Cape Breton Island have, in certain contexts, influenced the Scottish dance traditions since 1992. In particular, I focus my observations on how movement motifs introduced by Cape Breton step dancers at Scottish summer-schools in fiddle and dance have come to be amalgamated, adopted and changed when used in dance genres not widely common to Cape Breton itself (such as Scottish Country and Old Time dancing). I ask to what extent the Cape Breton dance material has had an impact, in any way, on the current Scottish dance traditions. I also ask in what ways this influence has been transmitted through classes and performances over the last 20 years. Has this influence created a different level of understanding of movement and music interaction in Scottish traditional dance? I give examples of how Cape Breton dance aesthetics were introduced in various ways into the Scottish school curriculum in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and how segments of the Highland-dancing community interacted with, and reacted to, Cape Breton style dancing being introduced in Scotland. I further illustrate these processes by showing how Scottish dance-performance groups have used artistic opportunities to create new performance work involving movement motifs from Cape Breton. I argue that to some extent these ‘transaction’ processes have created a distinct style of step dance in Scotland since the 1990s.

Emma Nixon SCOTTISH IMMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA Fiddle music and fiddlers from Scotland have been part of the cultural landscape since early convict transportation. The Scots have had a significant impact on the development of politics, education, medicine and culture in Australia. While many of the influences have become embedded in Australian culture, Scottish music has been somewhat marginalised. Recently however, there has been some movement towards the mainstream as well as a reclamation of associated identifiers of Scottishness. Since the 1990s the emergence of Fiddle Clubs has demonstrated a growing interest in Scottish fiddling with seven Clubs now active around the country. This paper will examine how these Clubs are placed in contemporary Scottish diaspora in Australia, the interactions of various Clubs in the folk and dance communities of Australia and the importance of the Clubs in the promotion of Scottish fiddle music in broader Australian society. Further, there is an exploration of the development of modern Scottish fiddling in Australia through recent migration from Scotland of both people and musical ideas as well as the influence of the Club leaders and the Clubs themselves.

Aiden O’Donnell GETTING BACK ON TRACK: A RE-EVALUATION OF SPATIAL METAPHORS AS APPARENT IN THE FIDDLE TRADITION OF CO. DONEGAL The descriptive term 'Donegal style' is one that has been commonly used by academics and practitioners of Irish traditional music to refer to the sounds produced by the traditional fiddlers of Co. Donegal. As has been documented with many other traditions, and in particular those of some of our closest neighbours, Scotland and Shetland (Cooke 1986, 1994), labels that have been applied to regional traditions may not necessarily account for the complexity of local dialects and traditions. 'Spatial metaphors' (Keegan 2012) are used readily in the descriptive language of Irish traditional music. However certain metaphors, particularly with regard to the fiddle music of Co. Donegal have become dated. This paper presents an opportunity to re-evaluate some of the metaphors applied to the fiddle music of Co. Donegal, creating a new and more representational understanding of the tradition as apparent today.

Toshio Oki IRISH MUSIC IN JAPAN: FROM NOSTALGIA AND TRADITION TO A NEW COSMOPOLITANISM In 2012, northern Spain’s Festival of the Celtic World awarded its highest prize to a Japanese band, the Harmonica Creams. The Harmonica Creams played their own “Irish” material infused with jazz and blues riffs and improvised solos. Fiddler Aiko Obuchi’s confident leadership of another band, the Modern Irish Project, can also be seen as an act of defiance toward a passive, helpless and vulnerable social model of Japanese femininity (Yano 2002). It seems that the young, and the very brave, are questioning the socio-musical paths they are meant to follow in Japanese society, particularly within the context of Irish traditional music, which is seen by many as part of a unique Irish cultural identity and in danger of being rendered meaningless by outside influences (Vallely 2003). My study of the innovation of Irish music in Tokyo, Japan will build on earlier research done in Western Japan by Sean Williams (2006) and explore its increasing popularity as young Japanese performers reach out into the world and demonstrate the ways in which they perform Irish music. I will focus on three Japanese Irish bands that have performed extensively, composed their own tunes and songs bilingually, and collaborated with bands of other genres. My central questions will be: How do Japanese performers understand the important issues of identity, place, authority, and tradition, that attend the globalization of a Celtic imaginary? How do they achieve and think about their musically cosmopolitan innovations?

Glenn Patterson FRENCH SOUNDS IN ENGLISH VILLAGES: AFFECTIVE AND SYMBOLIC DIMENSIONS OF FIDDLE MUSIC ON QUEBEC`S GASPE COAST The phone rings. “There’s gonna be a party here tonight so you better get down.” Around 10 a.m., Brigid and Jimmy Miller would begin the six hundred mile drive “home” to Gaspé for a few hours of music, before heading back to their “new home” since the 1960s in Howick, Quebec. Combining ethnographic fieldwork with theories of musical affordance (DeNora 2004) and affectivity (Turino 1999), this paper explores the “French” sonic and performative structures of local Anglo-Gaspesian fiddle music—with links to both Acadian and Québécois traditions—and considers how these structures have fused with mass-mediated Canadian fiddle styles to create a deeply affective and highly non-discursive resource for local and diasporic community members. Despite extensive demographic decline through rural-to-urban outmigration, fiddle music—broadly conceived—engenders senses of place and belonging for many community members with little recourse to essentialized, transcendent identities. Following several collaborative efforts to promote this music locally and beyond, what are the social, cultural, and political ramifications as these sounds and their carriers are encountered by various insider and outsider audiences? Can a history of use with so- called “French” sounds by Anglophone Gaspesians foster a certain rapprochement between linguistic and cultural communities in Quebec, engendering a more nuanced understanding of Québécois musical culture and a place for the Province’s historic internal Other within the symbolic space (Cohen 1985) of traditional music in Quebec?

Ronald Pen ``THAT`S THE BONEY PART``: AN APPALACHIAN FIDDLE TUNE GOES VIRAL At a crowded airport terminal in Orlando International Airport, the family of John and Becky Arnett of West Liberty, Kentucky are returning after a Florida vacation. The underlying drone of flight announcements, conversations, televisions, rolling suitcases and muzak envelops them. Suddenly that familiar orchestral trill of the violins appears and the brightly colored xylophone run leaves you subconsciously anticipating Robert Mitchum’s mellow baritone “Beef: its what’s for dinner.” Becky Arnett, however, had a different, and unique reaction. She grabbed her husband’s arm and said “John, can’t you hear it? That’s grandpa. That’s grandpa.” “Grandpa” was fiddler William Hamilton Stepp, born in a limestone cave in Lee County, Kentucky in 1875. When Alan Lomax recorded Stepp’s “Bonaparte’s Retreat” for the Library of Congress in 1937, he set in motion a cascade of events that caused the fiddle tune “Bonaparte’s Retreat” to go viral. This is the story of how Aaron Copland; the ballet Rodeo; Willie Nelson; Béla Fleck; the Library of Congress; pop chanteuse Kay Starr; Spike Lee; Pee Wee King; The American Cattlemen’s Association, the progrock trio Emerson; Lake and Palmer; modernist composer Ruth Crawford Seeger; Our Singing Country; Rachel Memdra Sea Horse; Greasy Bill Tincher; Napoleon; and the Cowboys of the Golden West all intersect at a cave in Lee County, Kentucky. This is the story of how the ripples of one seemingly insignificant musical moment in Appalachia echoed throughout the world for 78 years. This is the story of how the “boney part” incited trans-Atlantic transactions.

Ken Perlman I’D GET THE TUNE INTO ME HEAD”: ORAL MUSIC LEARNING AMONG TRADITIONAL FIDDLERS ON PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Through analysis of oral histories and transcriptions of field recordings, this paper explores tune transmission among Prince Edward Island’s traditional fiddle players. In practice, this style of learning promoted faithful transmission of certain fundamental features of tunes while encouraging wide variation in detail. Those bits of a fiddle tune that are most salient or “catchy” tend to be transmitted relatively intact; those that are less catchy or more generic are less consistently transmitted, and tend to vary markedly among fiddlers. This tendency towards variation was then supported by local attitudes that encouraged fiddlers to develop truly personal tune versions, known as twists. I identify three styles of tune-recall: conscious recall, subconscious recall, and visualization. In conscious recall, the fiddler has the tune in mind soon after its initial hearing. Visualization involves the ability to associate particular notes with the movements required to obtain them. In subconscious recall, the tune is somehow absorbed by the fiddler’s mind, then simply re-surfaces at a later date. For many fiddlers, the retrieval of such absorbed tunes was associated with awakening from sleep. The first stage of recall often brings just the major themes of a tune to mind. The fiddler then fills in around them, often employing connecting and cadential phrases from a personal storehouse, resulting in a pastiche of recently remembered and previously assimilated elements. As some fiddlers describe creating new tunes, its similarity to the process of subconscious tune-recall is striking. In turn, this psychological similarity can create two kinds of confusion. First, was a given tune newly created or merely remembered? And if the tune is new, was it a product of the musician’s imagination or merely placed there by some external, perhaps non-corporeal agent – such as the departing soul of a deceased person or some denizen of the spirit world?

Stephen Rees MAKING NEW TRADITION(S): ADAPTATION AND INDIVIDUATION IN WELSH FIDDLE PLAYING From the eighteenth century onwards there is no lack of evidence for fiddle playing in Wales: alongside historical descriptions and payment records, there are several manuscript tune books containing distinctively Welsh repertoire. This evidence becomes thinner as we move into the twentieth century, and no ‘source’ fiddlers are known to have made audio recordings. Those wishing to ‘revive’ fiddle playing in Wales from the 1970s onward were thus faced with a dilemma: although Welsh instrumental repertoire became increasingly available during this period, there were no source performance styles which could be emulated and adapted. Nevertheless, there are now three generations of fiddle players who may be described as ‘traditional’ in Wales, and the instrument is by far the most ubiquitous of those currently used to play Welsh traditional music. This paper examines the responses to the lack of an audible historical tradition at both individual and institutional levels, drawing on fieldwork conducted among musicians and advocates of traditional music. It analyses the extent of stylistic adaptation (particularly from Irish fiddle styles), assesses the transmission of repertoire and idiom within teacher-pupil relationships, and evaluates the role of the Welsh language within this instrumental idiom. I argue that the absence of an aurally- transmitted tradition in Wales before the 1970s has provided fertile ground for the development of traditional fiddle playing as a generalized activity, and has also facilitated the active pursuit of distinctly individuated fiddle styles.

Laura Risk TRACING THE TUNES: A COMPUTER-AIDED MAPPING OF MUSICAL VARIATION IN EARLY COMMERCIAL RECORDINGS OF INSTRUMENTAL DANCE MUSIC IN QUEBEC In 1920s and 1930s Montreal, fiddlers, accordion players, and harmonica players recorded instrumental dance tunes for commercial labels. Gabriel Labbé’s magisterial studies (1977, 1995) catalogue these recordings—numbering over 1000 sides—by label and release date, and include performer biographies. However, there has been no in- depth study of their musical contents, perhaps due to the large number of recordings, the relatively small number of extant transcriptions, and the paucity of antecedent sheet music sources. Among the questions that remain unanswered: does this repertoire divide into subsets delineated by melodic contour, harmonic rhythm, and metrical structure? Given multiple recordings of the same dance tune, to what extent do performances vary melodically, rhythmically and structurally (Duval 2012)? How similar are the contents of the Montreal recordings to instrumental dance recordings made elsewhere in North America in the same years (Spottswood 1990)? Working with a computer programmer, I have built two overlapping databases: the first contains a numerical representation of each repertoire item, while the second contains quantitative comparisons of those representations. These databases may be used to create a visual representation of melodic, rhythmic and structural variation within the repertoire (see Cuthbert 2014). I use these results to trace musical connections among the recording artists (see Bellemare 2012), to characterize regional styles and repertoires brought to Montreal by rural-to-urban migrants, to compare these recordings with early commercial recordings in New York City, and to link this repertoire to popular dance styles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Cleek Schrey CYLINDER TO CLOUD: TRANSHISTORIC DIALOGUE AS A CREATIVE RESOURCE Through continuous release of archival recordings, along with internet file sharing and online resources, contemporary traditional fiddlers have unprecedented access to historic sounds. These rich sonic resources point toward a diverse set of interpretational possibilities, including a reconsideration of musical priorities, habits, and certain “epistemologies of purification” (Gautier, 2006) that have proliferated since the folk revival. Such musical considerations include issues of tuning and temperament, rhythm and phrasing, as well as strategies of harmonization and accompaniment. Many of these pre-revival archival recordings feature non-commercial field recordings of solo and duet performances, often unaccompanied. As commercialization has drastically emphasized ensemble playing, this alternative aural library has become an invaluable point of reference for a future solo praxis. As the archive continues to be mined, creative possibility is expanding in both directions simultaneously, towards the future and the past. Many of the recordings presently available, even those which have become canonical representations of their time, were not in circulation when they were recorded. The presentation will reveal the relatively recent way of engaging with these historic sources as a potentially new paradigm for the interpretation of traditional fiddle music. Utilizing ethnographic interviews with leading exponents of American and Irish fiddling, alongside exemplary recordings of historic and contemporary performances, this paper will illuminate ways in which access to digitized historical material is shaping the sonic landscape of traditional fiddle practices today.

Elisa Sereno-Janz THE FIDDLELIGHTS PROJECT: STYLISTIC DOCUMENTATION THROUGH KINETIC PORTRAITS The FiddleLights Project is a multi-media exhibit of practice-based research which documents gestures made by the bow hand in the performance of fiddle tunes. Experimenting with time-lapse photography and processed video, FiddleLights creates light-based visualisations of movement and technique captured from the bow-hand of individual fiddlers, resulting in both kinetic signatures of individual tunes, and kinetic portraits of the fiddlers. The traditions of fiddle music and dance are inextricably entwined. The act of fiddling engages the body of the fiddler in its own dance. Each performer executes complex movements in the manipulation of the bow, the fingers, and the entire body to release the voice of the instrument. As every fiddler has a unique style and interpretation of a tune, every kinetic signature, in recording the exact movements made in the manipulation of the bow becomes a unique kinetic portrait, generating a unique visual reference of the artistic expression of each individual fiddler. Fiddling traditions vary widely internationally and regionally. I suggest that various fiddling styles will have their own specific and recognizable set of gestures. For this paper, I wish to collaborate with fiddlers from diverse traditions. Through the technique of mapping physical gestures employed by The FiddleLights Project I will be able to collect data and provide an analysis of performing styles particular to the various fiddling traditions. A further consequence of this work will be a collection of innovative stylistic kinetic portraits of contemporary fiddlers.

Tes Slominski SHIFTING AUTHENTICITIES: CLASS, NATIONALISM, AND THE POLITICS OF PRE- INDEPENDENCE IRISH STYLE This paper investigates the story of Teresa Halpin (Treasa ní Ailpín; 1894-1983), a fiddle player and dancer who grew up in Limerick and participated prominently in nationalist events beginning in the late 1890s. Halpin received prizes for her knowledge of “ancient” tunes, bested the legendary fiddler Michael Coleman in a competition in 1913, and performed in a coast-to-coast tour of the United States. Her accomplishments after 1920 were similarly noteworthy: she published the first and only bilingual Irish-English violin/fiddle tutor, composed dances for the Gaelic League, and adjudicated music and dance competitions. Hers is a tale of how a once- famous performer disappeared from popular memory as definitions of what is “Irish” and “traditional” about “Irish traditional music” changed over the course of the twentieth century. It is the story of how one musician used the movement’s often-ambiguous positions on class, gender, and artistic production to her own creative and economic ends. And most important, Teresa Halpin’s story—and its erasure from the historical narrative—complicates understandings of authenticity that continue to determine which stories we tell, which musical styles we hear, and how we imagine the relationships between aesthetics of the past and present. I argue that Teresa Halpin’s disappearance from the historical record is the result of a gradual shift toward style rather than social identity as the location of authenticity in Irish traditional music discourse over the twentieth century—a shift with profound implications for how we write Irish traditional music history today.

Sally K. Sommer-Smith see Paul Wells “PLAY THAT SLOW PIECE YOU LEARNED FROM MACQUARRIE”: A CAPE BRETON VIOLINIST AND HIS RADIO AUDIENCE

Lynnsey K. Weissenberger TEACHING TRADITION: TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED TRANSMISSION Teaching a college-level Irish music and dance ensemble means imparting traditional approaches and techniques used in Irish music to students accustomed to other styles of music, mainly Western Classical. Fiddle bowings, ornaments, variation – to say nothing of the cultural and historical contexts of the music – become critical to the traditional approach to learning tunes. Helping students learn about the important fiddle players and musicians of the past, as well as the present, is equally as important as learning dance tunes, waltzes, slow airs, and songs. An aural learning method for tune transmission is emphasized within the ensemble, which is very traditional, whereas the supplementary audiovisual content makes use of ample Internet-based resources. Making use of technology in the transmission of Irish music and dance traditions involves the use of archival and modern YouTube videos, Internet Archive recordings of fiddle legends such as Michael Coleman and Dennis Murphy, and tune information repositories such as irishtune.info or thesession.org. The revival of the Irish sean-nós dance tradition has mostly contained itself within Ireland and is still less prominent across the Atlantic, making technology an essential tool for learning and transmission. Internet-based archival videos and recordings create relationships between musical or dance masters and students new to these traditions, when face- to-face transmission could not otherwise take place. Technology crosses geographic and temporal space, allowing for the transmission of tradition in new ways; it is our link between the past and the living traditions being practiced and shaped today.

Paul Wells and Sally K Sommer-Smith “PLAY THAT SLOW PIECE YOU LEARNED FROM MACQUARRIE”: A CAPE BRETON VIOLINIST AND HIS RADIO AUDIENCE William H. “Bill” Lamey (1914-1991) is widely-recognized as one of the premier Cape Breton violinists of the twentieth century. The handful of 78 rpm recordings he made for the Apex and Celtic labels in the 1940s and ‘50s show him to have been a powerful, skilled, and passionate player. Lamey also performed on radio for many years, principally on CJCB in Sydney. He built an avid fan base among his listeners, many of whom wrote to him to request their favorite tunes. Nearly 140 such letters, most from the first three months of 1939, survive in the hands of the Lamey family, who have graciously made them available for research. These letters reveal how extremely knowledgeable Lamey’s listeners were about the Scottish repertoire. People were quite specific about what favorite strathspeys and reels they wanted to hear. The still-popular “King George” set was a top choice, but the range of tunes requested is astonishing. The letters are also instructive about how the music was identified in this period. At no time did any of Lamey’s listeners refer to his music as “Cape Breton fiddling.” Rather, they wrote of his “beautiful Scotch music” and praised his “fine violin playing.” This body of correspondence provides a unique window into the world of Cape Breton fiddling in the mid-twentieth century, a key historical period when recordings and radio were just beginning to have an impact on the island’s musical traditions.

Claire White FIDDLING AND BEYOND: DEVELOPING A NEW SHETLAND TRADITION Shetland fiddle music is world-famous as a rich, popular tradition which was saved from near extinction in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, it has been preserved and developed in the hands of solo and group performers who have honoured and augmented the Shetland fiddle style and repertoire. Some have done so whilst living in Shetland, others whilst living elsewhere but still defining themselves as ‘Shetland fiddlers’. As part of this process of re-interpreting and re-inventing, Shetlander Claire White has fused island fiddle sounds and melodies with arresting stories from Shetland’s past to create new material for fiddle and voice from her current base in Aberdeen. In doing so, she aims to re-invigorate Shetland’s lesser-known song tradition and catalyse more contemporary song-writing in a traditional style. In this auto-ethnographic paper Claire describes, and critically reflects upon, being educated by a key figure in a renowned musical tradition (Dr Tom Anderson), growing up as an acknowledged tradition bearer and teacher, absorbing innovations from fellow musicians in Shetland and beyond, and creating a new branch on Shetland’s musical family tree. The author explores themes including authenticity, mastery, distance, communication and creative confidence to understand the complex process of innovating in the traditional music sphere. The paper concludes with a creative framework that practitioners and scholars might apply to innovation elsewhere in order to recognise and cultivate new ‘voices’ in traditional music.

Frances Wilkins THE CREE FIDDLERS OF JAMES BAY: A CASE FOR THE NON-SAFEGUARDED SCOTTISH- DERIVED FIDDLE PERFORMANCE TRADITION? This paper presents a comparative case study of fiddle learning and performance practice, not in Scotland but among the Cree fiddlers living in the James Bay region of Northern Canada. While culturally different from the Scots, the James Bay Cree have a strong historical connection with Scotland, both occupationally and in terms of music and dance performance. Scots fur traders travelled to the region from the seventeenth to the twentieth century and their contact with Cree hunters and trappers, while limited at first, extended from the early days to social dancing and music performance. The Cree quickly took up the fiddle and its associated dances, the music considered as a ‘language of exchange’, and the fiddle is still performed regularly for social dances today. The fiddle continues to be the only instrument performed within the context of traditional Scottish-derived dance music in James Bay. It constitutes an oral tradition and most fiddlers do not read music or learn from notation. There is no formal fiddle tuition in the region, and very little provision for music education in schools. Few traditional James Bay tunes have been transcribed or published, but are usually learned from recordings, and fiddlers take on a largely functional role of playing music to accompany dancing. Fiddle music is mostly self-taught and learning is done individually and privately through listening, imitation, and improvisation. When a fiddler has reached an acceptable level of playing they will emerge into the community as a musician, perhaps performing alongside a family member. In this paper, my aim is to explore this non-‘safeguarded’ performance tradition, and to suggest that safeguarding traditional music through institutionalisation and formalisation of teaching is not always a necessity.

Carley Williams SAFEGUARDING 'AUTHENTICITY' IN FIDDLE TRADITIONS The safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage is ‘a comprehensive notion that not only includes the standard “protective” actions of identification and inventorying but also provides the conditions within which ICH can continue to be created, maintained and transmitted’. The United Kingdom has not yet ratified UNESCO's 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), but in Scotland, there has been interest towards adopting the guidelines. My PhD research examines how the 2003 guidelines could be put into practice in Scotland in a way that acknowledges contemporary, grass-roots-derived safeguarding actions pioneered by on-the ground artists and organizations. These changing social and cultural contexts of tradition foster an environment that enables traditions to continue to flourish in new and interesting ways. The role of authenticity is one of the key debates in ICH. But what is it? What makes a tradition ‘authentic’? What qualities identify a tradition as appropriate for inclusion in a national or international inventory, and thus ‘worthy’ of safeguarding? This paper will begin with an overview of the ongoing international discussions around these issues in the context of the UNESCO Convention, before addressing how artists and audience between them shape the development of a tradition. In fact, practitioners must address these issues with every interaction between their art form and the public. I will present fieldwork conducted with fiddle teachers and performers in Scotland, examining how they decide what tunes and techniques they will perform or teach, how the concepts of tradition and authenticity have shaped their performance styles and repertoire, and what qualities they consider important for identifying what is ‘authentic’ and ‘traditional’ in their artistic practice